Motorsport news bits 98-05-13

5/13 Scheckter for BTCC?
Jodie Scheckter has confirmed that he is in talks about taking part
in the "live" BTCC races with Nissan and Honda.
5/13 Benetton to stay with Mecachrome
Dave Richards has ...

5/13 Scheckter for BTCC?
Jodie Scheckter has confirmed that he is in talks about taking part
in the "live" BTCC races with Nissan and Honda.

5/13 Benetton to stay with Mecachrome
Dave Richards has confirmed that the team will continue with
Mecachrome units next year.

5/13 Mecachrome to supply three teams
Mecachrome has indicated that it may supply three teams next year. It
has been said that there is an "understanding" about only supplying
two teams, but no contractual obligation.

5/13 Revised Prost for France
The Prost team is redesigning the rear of the AP2 in time for the
French GP. In a separate move the car will have a new rear-breaking
system that apparantly is legal as it brakes both rear wheels.

5/13 Stand by me!
The Stewart GP team has given support to Alan Jenkins and said that
is no substance to stories linking Mike Gascoyne from Tyrrell to the
team. Magnussen, however, is not so safe - he is now reported to be
on a race by race deal, and the only obstacle to being replaced by
Jos Verstappen were money and contractual demands.

5/13 Stewards blame Fisi
The Stewards of the Spanish GP apportioned blame for his crash with
Irvine squarely at his feet, and fined him £4500 for his trouble. The
general feeling is that the move is more indicative of the problem of
overtaking in F1 than anything else.

5/13 No extra race this year?
The chances of a 17th race this season have receded. The October 11th
date is now unlikely to be filled, leaving a 5 week gap between the
last two races.

5/13 Williams - "Canada"
The improvements to the Williams will now be fitted for the Canadian
GP. It features a new rear end, rear suspension, diffuser and a
longer wheelbase - other than that, the rear is fine. There was no
word on changes to the "electronic fuel flap".

5/13 Takagi for Jordan?
The Jordan team is reported to be very interested in landing Tora
Takagi for the team next year. Whilst it would be popular with Honda,
the team is reported to have no obligation. A separate story links
Ralf Schumacher with H2F's Williams drive.

5/13 New front wing for FerrariFerrari are set to introduce a new front wing in time for the
Canadian GP. The team, however, still lays its gap to McLaren
"70-75%" at Goodyear's door.

5/13 Counterfeit McLaren
Mika Hakkinen's retirement at Imola was caused by counterfeit gearbox
bearings which ended up on the car. The team doesn't know how the
parts found their way into the supply chain, but Dennis didn't think
it was a deliberate attempt to hit the team.

5/13 Hand bags at dawn in F1
Over the race weekend most of the talk at Imola was of the various
tiffs going on down the pit lane, involving Irvine and Fisi (see
separate story), and the Hill-H2F battle, which reached its climax
with Hill describing Frentzen as "a brick short of a full load".

5/13 VW/Rolls Royce/BMW/Cosworth/Ford problems
The bid for Rolls Royce, originally not of much interest to F1, has
become a major problem for nearly everyone involved. With VWs bid
reported to include a bid for Cosworth, this would hit Ford. BMW
wouldn't supply a VW owned Rolls Royce, whilst VW say they would use
Cosworth engines. Ford, meanwhile, as reported last week has said it
would have to find a new tuner. In the end, all that will matter to
Vickers shareholders is the bottom line....

5/13 US GP - deal close
Chris Pook has said that an anouncement about the US GP will be made
later this year by BCE. San Francisco is now the favourite, with a
battle between a Golden Gate Park race or one based around Presido
miliatary base. Don Panoz's Georgia track is still in the frame, as
is Dallas and Las Vegas. The latter depends on planning permission.

5/13 BTCC Peugeots wait
The BTCC Peugeots are still awaiting a decision from France on
whether they can use the GTCC demon engines.

5/13 Bathurst "World Cup"
The Bathurst race has moved into the frame as the favourite for the
Touring Car World Cup. Alan Gow, boss of TOCA, has said that as the
race is going ahead it makes sense for it go on. South Africa has
pulled out of hosting the event due to lack of funds. This also will
affect its bid for a GT race later this year.

5/13 Nissan Germany wins
The same engines that have won for Nissan in the BTCC - last years -
have repeated the feet in the German series. More engines to last
years spec are to built by IES. Engine Developments problems
continue.

5/13 Zytek continues
The Zytek engine concern will continue to supply engines to F3000
until 2001. The only other bidder was Engine Developments - maker of
the Yamaha F1 engine, and the junked touring car Hondas.

5/13 Dijon Safety
Drivers have expressed concern at safety at the Dijon-Prenois circuit
which will host the FIA GT race in July.

5/13 Muller or Piro for Le Mans
Yvan Muller or Emanuelle Piro are set to drive GTC McLarens at the Le
Mans 24 hours next month.

5/13 Electric Panoz goes testing
The Electric Panzo, which failed to prequalify for Le Mans, is set
for the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in October. In the meantime
development of the car will hot up.

5/13 Bitter for GTs
The Bitter GT car is set to take part in the Silverstone GT race this
weekend. This takes the GT1 field up to 13 cars. 32 cars are expected
this weekend.

--
Stephen M Baines

"[The Autosport sticker] started to peel off in the middle of Eau Rouge
and it distracted me. In fact it was the first thing to hit the barrier"
Tiff Needell - Jaguar XJR-15 Challenge - Interview with Autosport